Please Renew Your Listing - Webmasters Deceived!

Please, please, please watch out for spammers who are trying to scam you out of your hard earned money! This is the story of a website which may technically be on the legal side of the law...but what they are doing is as unethical as all get-out!

Here's the beginning of the email I received:

Could you please be so kind as to click on renew for information on renewing your listings in the [spammerwebsite].us directory listing by Saturday, March 1, if you do not mind?

Well, I'm not going to assume I had bought a listing for my website, just because they said so. So I went to their website, and sure enough, my site was listed. That's funny, I thought, I don't remember listing with these guys.

Then I noticed something peculiar. At the bottom of their website was a very familiar logo...it was the dmoz (Open Directory Project) logo. This site was pulling its directory results from another directory on the internet, one which gives free listings.

In other words, my website was listed in their directory, because I had received a free listing in dmoz. And they were 'suggesting' that I needed to 'renew' my listing.

Guess what! It's after March 1, and my website is still listed in their directory! Know why? Because it's still listed in the Open Directory Project!

A Helpful HintWhat can I say? BE VIGILANT! BE ON YOUR GUARD! The internet is filled with people who want nothing more than to take advantage of you!

UpdateSince the writing of this article, I have received three more emails about renewing my listing for a charity I submitted to dmoz. The three emails implied that my listing would expire on: February 19th, March 24th, and April 26th. At last check, the spammer has not yet removed my listing. I really wish he would.